


A Thousand Miles Away From the Heartbreak Hotel

by misura



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Community: smallfandomfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-13
Updated: 2010-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Some days, he kind of wishes he was still only playing videogames.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Thousand Miles Away From the Heartbreak Hotel

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _AU: Bryce ends up being Chuck's handler_ \- diverges from canon about halfway through the pilot and picks up hm about a year from there?

A long time ago, at Stanford, Chuck thinks he might have sort of fantasized about something like this.

Bryce looks kind of ridiculously good wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt that's probably at least one size too small, and he's wearing sunglasses that look nothing at all like the ones Neo wore in _The Matrix_ (except, yes, totally and Bryce is still a dork) while leaning against a car that's - well.

If Chuck didn't already _have_ a boyfriend, the car would probably boost his chances of getting one by about five-hundred percent - even if, of course, Chuck doesn't really _want_ a boyfriend who thinks his car is hotter than he is, for all that it's probably true.

"Hey," he says, and if Bryce is a dork for wearing Neo sunglasses, then Chuck is at least as big a dork for not having come up with anything better to say than _'hey'_.

Bryce takes off his sunglasses, which is kind of nice, since it lets Chuck see his eyes. Chuck knows Bryce is a guy and all that, and that you're really not supposed to think of another guy as having pretty eyes. It's not a manly thing to think, even if it's true.

"Everything all right?" Bryce holds the car door open for him, like Chuck's his date or something (well, maybe 'boyfriend' does qualify as 'or something', and it's not as if Chuck _minds_ ).

"Fine," Chuck says, getting in and not bumping his head because ha! no roof. "I'm fine."

His hands are shaking - Chuck knows it, and Bryce has seen it. Bryce just nods though, shuts the door and gets into the car. He's driving, because that's the arrangement they've made.

If you stay in the car, you get to drive.

If you _don't_ stay in the car, you get to do the other stuff.

(The explosion sounds distant, when it comes - Bryce barely reacts at all, but Chuck can't help looking back, feeling a little cold and a little guilty, until Bryce takes one hand off the wheel and puts it on Chuck's shoulder, silently telling him he did well, and Chuck figures that he's all right, really, that he hasn't done anything to be ashamed of or feel guilty about.)

 

Less than one year ago, if anyone'd have told Chuck he'd be going on some sort of insane road-trip to fight injustice together with a superspy who also happens to be really hot and really in love with Chuck, he'd have assumed they were talking videogames.

Chuck's played a fair number of those - they're good fun, and even if you don't actually get to save the world or even the girl, at least you don't _doom_ the real world (or a real girl) when you get killed. (Oh, and you don't really die, either. That's kind of nice, too, because dying sort of sucks.)

Some days, he kind of wishes he was still only playing videogames.

 

They ditch the car in the next city they get to - Chuck has stopped trying to keep track of where they are after the first month, instead trying to focus on remembering who he is, who Bryce is, what their current car looks like, what name's on his ID, what name is on Bryce's - the essentials.

Bryce always seems to know where they are and where they're going, anyway, so Chuck figures that means he doesn't have to pay all that much attention. He flashes on stuff in a newspaper sometimes, and then they go somewhere else. It's never a problem; they're not expected to be anywhere at any time.

They live in hotel rooms and sometimes, when they're in a hurry or when Bryce can't find a hotel he likes, they sleep in the car.

"I checked the phone, it's clean - you can use it to call your sister," Bryce says.

Family is important to Bryce - or, well, _Chuck's_ family is. Bryce never seems to make any calls himself, to anyone. It's as if Chuck is the only person he has in the world, the only person he _needs_.

Ellie thinks Chuck is 'finding himself'. Captain Awesome thinks Chuck is 'struggling with his sexuality'. Morgan thinks Chuck is 'his best gay friend'. They all miss him, Chuck thinks, but none of them need him the way Bryce does.

"Thanks."

Ellie taught him how to take care of himself. Captain Awesome taught him how to tango with another man. Morgan taught him how to be the responsible one.

And his dad taught him how _not_ to leave your old life behind.

 

Bryce sends him the Intersect for his birthday, and for three days, Chuck thinks it's rather a sucky gift.

He gets shot at, and people try to kill him, and he's got absolutely no idea what's going on or what he's doing, and then he's suddenly at a reception, surrounded by pretty important people, disarming a bomb, with no idea of how he got there, except that it feels kind of good to be _doing_ something.

Four days after his birthday, he comes home to find Bryce in his bedroom (on his _bed_ , even).

"I thought you were living in Connecticut," Chuck says, and it's probably the lamest thing he's ever said, even to Bryce, to whom he's said rather a lot of lame things while they were roommates, and only some of them were because Bryce was wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers at the time.

"Yeah," Bryce says. "I know."

"Oh." And it's not that Chuck isn't happy to see Bryce (he _is_ , rather embarrassingly so) but Bryce has gotten him _expelled_ , Bryce has _lied_ to and about him, and Chuck just doesn't know whether to get mad or to burst into tears or to hug Bryce and let bygones be bygones.

"I'm sorry," Bryce says, and Chuck thinks that maybe Bryce has read his mind or something like that, because the next thing he knows is that Bryce's arms are around him, and Bryce is kissing him - _really_ kissing him, not that stuff he sometimes used to do when Chuck was upset about something and they were just being two guys who were also best friends.

Maybe, Chuck thinks, this is all that Bryce is really sorry about: that he's waited so long, that he's never kissed Chuck like this back at Stanford, before Chuck started dating Jill.

Maybe that's going to have to be enough.

 

They have dinner at some small Italian place, because Chuck says he feels like having pasta, and Bryce doesn't like the big, well-lit restaurant that's on the other side of the street their hotel's on.

Bryce orders in Italian, and Chuck feels his face grow warm when their waiter addresses him in Italian and Chuck stammers something along the lines of _'No parlo Italiano'_ which he hopes is Italian for _'I don't speak Italian'_ although he's not sure. Bryce says something in Italian _again_ and their waiter smiles at him in a way that makes Chuck feel irrationally jealous, especially when the two of them smile at each other as if they're sharing some sort of private joke, just between the two of them.

The pasta is good though, nothing like the way Ellie used to make it (and still does, Chuck assumes). They get icecream to go for dessert, and when they're walking back to the hotel, Chuck almost feels like a normal person - inasfar as anyone who's got a boyfriend who looks like Bryce can feel normal.

He'd kind of like to hold Bryce's hand while they're walking, but doesn't.

Bryce looks at him like he's thinking about kissing Chuck right there, in the middle of the street, where anyone could see.

(Once they're back at the hotel, in the elevator, Chuck grabs Bryce's hand and Bryce doesn't pull away or says something about how he needs to keep his hands free in case there's someone waiting for them in the hall to their room, but he doesn't kiss Chuck until they're back at their room.)

 

Their latest mission has made it to the frontpage of the local newspaper - Bryce reads it first, sipping a cup of tea because Chuck has told him too much coffee is bad for him.

"Nobody died and the police suspect the explosion was caused by a gas leak." Bryce hands over the newspaper. "Eat something."

"Yeah, not really a breakfast person," Chuck says.

Bryce shrugs and starts buttering a piece of toast. Chuck reads the article about the explosion first, taking a few sips from the orange juice Bryce has put in front of him with an expression that informs Chuck he'll be in trouble if he doesn't at least drink _some_ of it.

"Anything catching your eye?" Bryce asks softly, reaching for his sunglasses that he's put on the table.

"There's a gaming convention this weekend?" Chuck says hopefully.

Bryce smiles. "Sounds like fun. Have some toast."


End file.
